“Risen from Ruins”: Berlin, Generations, and Identity in Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne Sonja E� Klocke University of Wisconsin - Madison Abstract: In GDR culture generally, and in DEFA films in particular, buildings, construction sites, and ruins play a substantial role. This article examines the significance of issues of space and architecture in Herrmann Zschoche’s film Insel der Schwäne [Swan Island] (1983), and puts them in context with generational conflicts - another prevalent topic in GDR culture - as well as questions of identity. This approach reveals that Insel der Schwäne , far from simply fossilizing the city/ countryside dichotomy, stages East Berlin as a heterogeneous, enjoyable, progressive socialist universe still in the making. The capital of the GDR emerges as a space in which the teenager Stefan can assert himself - both in the complex space of Marzahn that is challenging because love develops just as readily as conflicts, and vis-à-vis his father, a construction worker of the first GDR generation who emblematically showcases the opportunities as well as the sacrifices implied in building socialism. Unlike later DEFA films, Insel der Schwäne still embraces utopian yearnings for a better, socialist future, and carefully calls for continued efforts to build a socialist state that allows for heterogeneity in its cities as well as among its socialist citizens of all generations� Keywords: Herrmann Zschoche, Insel der Schwäne, Berlin, architecture, generational conflict, identity In GDR culture, the subject of Aufbau [build-up] plays a fundamental role from the very beginning. The national anthem, written by Johannes R. Becher (music by Hanns Eisler) in 1949, declares the GDR a country “risen from ruins and facing the future,” and calls on its citizens to plough, build, learn, and create like never before� 1 Hardly surprising, the image of the house as a symbol for the young GDR is not uncommon in GDR literature and film either. Uwe Kolbe 102 Sonja E� Klocke for example describes socialism as the “Vorstellung, daß man gemeinsam an einem neuen historischen Gebäude arbeitet, und habe es auch seine Mängel und Schwierigkeiten, aber daß es doch das Bessere sei, speziell das bessere Deutschland” [vision that collectively, one works on a new historical building, and even if it has its deficiencies and intricacies, it is still the better, especially the better Germany] (Kolbe, qtd. in Dröscher 16). By the same token, many DEFA films feature construction sites, ruins, and new buildings� When particular architectural sites are combined or juxtaposed - for example, an apartment block characteristic for the GDR and made from prefabricated concrete slabs (the so-called Plattenbau ) with a late nineteenthor an early twentieth-century traditional building - these contrasting realms unfold symbolic and metaphoric potential� Films portraying such houses already comment on the state of the “build-up of socialism” since the Plattenbau is generally linked with socialist progress and set against the historic Altbau associated with obsolete traditions and allegedly vanquished social systems� Movies that - purportedly or deliberately - criticize GDR housing politics were therefore considered an affront against the socialist state. After all, unlike most contemporary Western societies, it was the state in the GDR that took on the responsibility for housing; which means that providing citizens with a roof over their heads was beyond doubt a political concern� The first critiques of Insel der Schwäne [Swan Island] (1983) published in party organs such as the Junge Welt and Neues Deutschland foregrounded an understanding of the film as questioning the efforts made with the gigantic building project in Berlin-Marzahn. Thus, I argue, they laid the foundation for a series of misinterpretations� Following initially positive reviews - Kino DDR even introduced Herrmann Zschoche’s film as their “film of the month” in April 1983 - the publications centering on an alleged criticism of the GDR Plattenbau shaping socialist cities influenced the focus of subsequent readings of the film. 2 In order to avoid replicating such lopsided interpretations which are as inadequate as attempts to construe the film as an omen for the collapse of the GDR in the fall of 1989 (Gersch 194; Blunk 1244), we need to expand our focus beyond simple dichotomies such as village/ city or Altbau/ Plattenbau . Therefore, this article complicates these issues of space and architecture by putting them in context with previously only insufficiently discussed character constellations - particularly between father and son - that represent the generational conflicts highly relevant in GDR film and literature. After all, architecture - especially in the Marxist and Modernist view the GDR’s leading architect Hermann Henselmann propagated - “stands in a close dialectical relationship with the human beings who make and use it” and “reclaims its role as a fundamental means for meeting the material and emotional needs of human communities,” as Curtis Swope emphasizes in his pivotal analysis of built space in GDR literature from “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 103 the 1950s to the 1970s (3-4)� In order to untangle the various facets the Kolbe family’s move from a village to the city of Berlin has above all for Stefan, the teenage protagonist in the film, we need to understand the specificities of different age groups in GDR society as well as their significance for a variety of resulting altercations. Therefore, I consider both the challenges and the opportunities East Berlin with its construction sites and traditional buildings affords particularly the young people who have to stand up for themselves vis-à-vis the parent generation� Based on this analysis I argue that the capital of the GDR does not present an entirely negative counterpart to a wholesome universe in the countryside� Rather, Berlin emerges as a positively connoted city space in which the teenager Stefan can assert himself - both in the complex space of Marzahn that is challenging because love develops just as readily as conflicts, and vis-à-vis his father, a construction worker of the first GDR generation who emblematically showcases the opportunities as well as the sacrifices implied in building socialism� Insel der Schwäne , based on Benno Pludra’s homonymous novel from 1980, highlights the effects the Kolbe family’s move from an idyllic village to Berlin-Marzahn has on their fourteen-year-old son Stefan. The family relocates so they can be with the father, a construction worker in Marzahn� While Herrmann, his wife Anja, and their little daughter Sabine seem to enjoy the comfort of their modern living quarters that offer space and privacy, Stefan misses nature and grieves for his best friend Tasso as well as his beloved grandmother� His feelings find expression in dreamlike sequences that pervade the entire film and feature members of the rock band “Ritter, Tod und Teufel” [Knights, Death, and the Devil], obviously an allusion to Albrecht Dürer’s famous painting from 1513� Inspired by a poster of the band that Tasso gave him as a farewell present, Stefan’s fantasies variably emerge as a source of consolation and call for courage whenever life is particularly daunting; that is, whenever his malicious neighbor “Windjacke” [Windbreaker], a maybe sixteen-year-old teenager who owes his name to his flashy windbreaker from the West and who dazzles clueless adults with ostensibly good manners sets out to terrorize Stefan and his new friend Hubert, a rather timid teen who plays the violin at the request of his parents� The film ends with a kind of showdown between Stefan and Windjacke, in which the younger boy not only fends off the villain who attempts to kill him, but ends up saving the older one’s life, thus validating his moral superiority� This brief summary indicates that the film expressly targeted teenagers. The average viewing figures collected when the film first arrived at movie theaters confirm this assessment: 70 % of all watchers were between thirteen and twenty years of age, and 52 % of the audience were actually pupils - a rather high figure for the GDR where on average only 14 % of those visiting movie theaters attend- 104 Sonja E� Klocke ed school. Thus, Insel der Schwäne was without a doubt a film meant for youth ( Jugendfilm ), and more precisely for teenage students ( Schülerfilm ; Wiedemann 3)� Hardly surprising, the movie became a striking DEFA success particularly among viewers aged thirteen to seventeen, who also represented the majority of the audience (58 %). Of watchers the age of thirteen to fourteen, 99 % considered the film “very good” or “good”; among those aged fifteen to seventeen, 92 % still agreed with that rating. In this context, it seems important to note that - contrary to the common Western and post- Wende emphasis on censorship and indoctrination in the GDR - DEFA and its affiliated institutions conducted careful research on cinema’s actual popularity because the Ministry of Culture was truly interested in knowing whether citizens enjoyed the films and other cultural products it sponsored. In order to calibrate their offerings, they tried to garner considerable amounts of detailed information that would make the rationale for a cultural product’s popularity readily identifiable. With regard to Zschoche’s Insel der Sch wäne, the motives are unambiguous. The film’s esteem and attractiveness predominantly ensue from the protagonist Stefan, whom 95 % of viewers across all age groups considered personable. Since the female protagonists Anja and Rita were also rather popular - 77 % liked Rita and still 66 % found Anja agreeable - it seems reasonable to infer that for the adolescent members of the audience, these three protagonists especially served as figures of identification (Wiedemann 2-5, 13). In this context, the younger spectators’ reasoning for sympathizing with Stefan, Rita and Anja as well as for enjoying the film is enlightening. They were fond of it not because it related to problems associated with the new prefabricated buildings the portrayed youngsters lived in, but because they felt that the film was honest and addressed their concerns. More specifically, the vast majority (55 %) of the interviewed teenagers said: Es geht in erster Linie um die Verdeutlichung der Probleme junger Menschen, die in eine völlig neue Lebenssituation hineingestellt werden, ohne richtig darauf vorbereitet zu sein� (Wiedemann 8) [First and foremost, it is about illustrating the problems of young people who are put in an entirely new situation of their lives without being properly prepared for it�] 3 Without doubt, this entirely new situation in life refers to the living conditions in the city of Berlin and particularly in the Plattenbau environment of Marzahn to which Stefan is unaccustomed. After all, this is the milieu in which the central struggle between Stefan and Windjacke, but also the protagonist’s disputes with his father as well as his first encounters with love come to pass. Given this constellation as well as the aforementioned critiques in Neues Deutschland and Junge Welt , it is hardly astounding that many scholars have commented on the “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 105 role architecture as well as the dichotomy village/ city play in Insel der Schwäne � 4 And unlike Pludra’s novel, which repeatedly returns to the eponymous island of the swans, Ulrich Plenzdorf’s film script undeniably foregrounds the contrast between the comforting realm of the village surrounded by nature and the city, particularly Marzahn in the making� Not quite a tabula rasa, the construction site visibly indicates something that is well underway - just like the building of socialism. The residential area in progress thus points to a future that may be planned out, but that can still be shaped� And while this contemporary urban district is going through growing pains that parallel those of the depicted juveniles, all of Berlin is exciting, a well-lighted space characterized by speed� When the family arrives in Berlin in their moving van, the film deliberately showcases the city’s most impressive buildings and streets, particularly those that represent the GDR and stand for socialist progress� Ablaze with light originating from brightly illuminated display windows and luminous advertising, the famous TV tower on Alexanderplatz and busy streets such as the Karl-Marx- Allee do not fail to impress Stefan and especially his little sister. Significantly, the film’s speed increases dramatically in this scene: While the first section depicting the island of the swans and Stefan’s village takes ninety seconds with very few cuts, the following scenes portraying the family’s drive to Berlin speed up to six cuts per minute; and when they arrive in the GDR capital, the big city exhibits its vibrant life and lights in up to eighteen cuts per minute. Otherwise, the film sustains this cutting rate only during dramaturgically key action scenes that exclusively take place on the construction site of Marzahn� In addition to the increased speed, the camera work accentuates the established contrast between village and city when the Kolbes arrive at the housing block which represents their new home� While many slow horizontal pan shots draw attention to the enormous dimension of the Marzahn building project, the extreme low angle and high angle shots alike emphasize the verticality of the semi-finished new constructions. Such shots offering a multitude of views from below that highlight the sheer height of the houses come into effect, for example, when the youngsters first see the high-rises with their many illuminated windows. The viewers therefore sympathize with overwhelmed little Sabine who fears the buildings could topple over. Supported by the filmic devices the audience, just like Stefan, senses that this huge, unfinished and rather complex space is both frightening as it harbors dangers, and exciting as it offers opportunities for adventure and change� A detailed analysis of the surveys conducted after screenings of Insel der Schwäne reveals that the content played a much more significant role for the audiences’ predilection for the film than cinematic and artistic design (Wiedemann 7-8). Still, the filmic devices employed - particularly speed, light, and careful camera work - no doubt underline that the 106 Sonja E� Klocke Kolbe family have arrived in a place where construction never stops, and even the nights are dedicated to building socialism� Confronted with housing stock much more significantly marked by World War II bombing than in the West, the GDR administration, “rooted in a real desire to better the lot of ordinary people” (49), as Mary Fulbrook stresses, was caught between their ideals and grave fiscal constraints. 5 Yet despite the shortcomings of the economy which was, unlike its West German counterpart, not supported by the Marshall Plan, the GDR made great efforts to provide new residences for GDR citizens� Already in the 1950s and under the auspices of Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl (1949-1960) and General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party’s Central Committee (later First Secretary) Walter Ulbricht (1950-1971), the government prioritized building projects as evidenced in the founding of the Nationales Aufbauwerk , a national initiative calling for voluntary, charitable work to build up the socialist country� In November 1951, the party organ Neues Deutschland called on GDR citizens to step up and offer unpaid work hours in the effort to remove rubble to obtain new building materials, and to start the construction of so-called workers’ palaces ( Arbeiterpaläste )� Dedicated to socialist formats modelled on Soviet architectural styles, East Berlin’s Stalinallee, renamed Karl-Marx-Allee in 1961, is probably the most renowned result of the endeavor. The ensemble famous for its extraordinary, even demiurgic quality was essentially erected within a decade� During the years Erich Honecker was in office (as First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party’s Central Committee, later General Secretary, 1971-1989; and additionally as the country’s official head of state as Chairman of the State Council, 1976-1989), about 100,000, sometimes even 110,000 new homes were built per year (Statistisches Amt der DDR 51). Berlin-Marzahn, formerly an insignificant village on the fringes of Berlin, became one of the centers of the new building projects� After the Politburo planned it in 1975, the first Plattenbau was started in 1977; in 1979 Marzahn was declared the ninth, new municipality in Berlin; and by 1983, the year Insel der Schwäne appeared in movie theaters, 100,000 people had found a new, comfortable home in Berlin-Marzahn which was to provide space for 200,000 people in an area of 6�6 square kilometers (2�5 square miles) by 1987� 6 It is important to bear in mind that for the majority of GDR citizens, being allotted an apartment in one of the new building projects was synonymous with winning the jackpot. This is hardly surprising if we take into account that for example in Dresden in 1980, only 35 % of young residents who lived in older buildings were satisfied with their housing situation compared to 76 % of those who lived in the new Plattenbauten . After all, apartments in older buildings most often lacked hot water, a bathroom, or an indoor toilet - privations unknown to those who lived in the modern housing blocks� 7 Unsurprisingly then, only a mi- “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 107 nority of viewers foregrounded problems associated with Plattenbauten as a main topic in Insel der Schwäne - despite the critiques in Neues Deutschland and Junge Welt , which quickly shaped audience expectations. Yet first of all, such critical comments were exclusively voiced by older movie-goers (between eighteen and twenty-five years of age), which only accounted for 22 % of the audience; and of these a mere 10 % mentioned problems such as a perceived lack of opportunities to develop creativity in surroundings covered in concrete or the discrepancy they sensed between individuals’ plans for their lives and society’s expectations (Wiedemann 19-21). Thus, the letters to the editor published in the Junge Welt under the heading “Das ist wieder kein DEFA-Film über uns! ” [Again, this is not a DEFA film about us! ] should not simply be dismissed in their entirety. One reader, for example, emphasizes the comforts of the recent buildings and contrasts their eases with the anxieties brought about by life in traditional houses: hell, groß, warm, mit Bad und Innen-Toilette. […] Ich weiß noch, wie ich mich als Kind abends nicht aufs Klo getraut habe, weil ich da über den dunklen Hof mußte … Da bin ich heute noch froh, daß meine Eltern eine Neubauwohnung gekriegt haben� (qtd� in Vogt 675) [light, spacious, warm, with a bathroom and an indoor toilet� […] I remember how I was afraid of going to the bathroom at night when I was a kid because I had to cross the dark courtyard … Still today, I am glad my parents got a newly built apartment� This evaluation of the housing situation in the GDR seems more representative for the majority of East Germans than an outright critique of the Plattenbau � After all, finding a modern apartment presented the most important goal in many GDR citizens’ lives (Fulbrook 53)� 8 At the same time, the older viewers’ approval of the new building projects should not lead us to ignore their implications for children growing up in such surroundings� Insel der Schwäne does not simply accuse a supposedly flawed architectural plan for causing young people’s misery, but explicitly reproaches authoritarian structures prevalent in GDR society� In particular, the children’s and teenagers’ lives are controlled by an evil janitor who also serves as the superintendent presiding over the house community� When he informs Stefan about the rules of the house, both the teenager and the film’s spectators understand this realm to be uninviting for the younger generation: Wir malen nichts an die Fahrstuhlwände, wir malen nichts an Treppen- oder Flurwände, wir malen nichts an die Hauswände, wir malen überhaupt nichts, und wir kleben auch nichts an, wir bauen nichts ab, wir lassen keine fremden Kinder ins Haus, wir spucken nicht auf den Boden, wir melden alle Unregelmäßigkeiten bei mir, der Hausgemeinschaftsleitung. 108 Sonja E� Klocke [We do not paint the walls of the elevator, we do not paint the walls of the staircases or the hallways, we do not paint the exterior walls of the house, we do not paint anything at all, and we also do not post anything, we do not dismantle anything, we do not allow unknown children into the house, we do not spit on the floor, we do report all irregularities to me, the superintendent for the house community�] Here the superintendent, abiding by authoritarian structures while simultaneously exerting authority especially over the weakest elements in society, personifies state control characteristic for the GDR on the lowest level. When the youngest inhabitants post an unauthorized note on the building block’s bulletin board declaring “Wir wollen keinen Spielplatz aus Betong [sic]! Wir wollen einen Tunnel und kleine Wisen [sic]! ” [We do not want a concrete playground! We want tunnels and little meadows! ], they clash not only with the superintendent, but also with other adults� Atypical for this generation that did not rebel (Ahbe and Gries 553), the teenagers support the children’s little revolt because they assume that in this in-between, not-yet-fully-developed space different rules apply than in “normal” life (Scharnowski 78)� Consequently, they try to participate in fashioning this realm: taking advantage of some of the scarce building materials they mustered, the young ones manufacture tunnels underneath their self-declared “playground” and thus literally undercut both the ground on which the construction site is located and the actual building efforts. For a short time, this realm emerges as a space for subversion and anarchistic freedom. The little ponds and tunnels fashioned by the children are unsafe for play, but they emerge as even more hazardous for the authority figures on the construction site: both the superintendent and Stefan’s father, Herrmann, who stands for authority on the construction site with which he identifies entirely. When the latter discovers the tunnels, he declares them perilous, and forces the teenagers to help him destroy the “playground�” When Herrmann fails to come through with his promise that in exchange for their support in demolishing the hazardous dens, the children will receive a new playground with safe tunnels suitable for play, the youngsters turn to revolt: upon finding the playground freshly covered with concrete, they engage in a brief, anarchistic fest. Significantly encouraged by the previously timid Hubert, who overcomes his inhibitions when he tries to turn the boring concrete surface into a work of art by planting a watering can right in the middle, everyone joins in this creative, yet for the construction efforts destructive activity. Full of joy, the juveniles place all kinds of objects, even a toilet bowl on the concrete. Yet the mood shifts on a dime when some children start to wrench the young, fragile trees from the soil in order to “plant” them on the concrete� Reminiscent of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , Insel der Schwäne depicts the limitations of children’s ability to “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 109 judge and the dangers implied in a lack of adult guidance� It takes the reasonable Stefan, unlike the city kids in touch with nature and equipped with socialist virtues such as solidarity and sincerity, to stop the destruction� Reliable and in a way more mature than the adults who fail to keep promises, Stefan takes charge and ends the senseless annihilation of the plants� Using the example of the playground, Insel der Schwäne thus does much more than condemn the Marzahn environment: it criticizes a state that is unwilling to listen to and place any trust in its youngest generation - which is distinctly characterized as a mistake given Stefan’s mature behavior� 9 Notably, Herrmann’s fib signifies the moment in the film when the father-son relationship reverses� Despite occasional tensions, Herrmann largely emerges as a compassionate father who comes to the rescue whenever his teenage son gets in trouble� He stays calm when Stefan allegedly opened a hydrant in their building’s hallway, which caused a veritable flood and necessitated the service of the fire department. Unaware that his son merely took the blame to protect Herbert, whose parents, the film implies, corporally punish their son, Herrmann is angry but also plays the part of the socialist hero who manages to close the hydrant and stop the water� In other words, Herrmann does what needs to be done - but he never gets to the actual roots of the quandary because he does not effectively communicate with his son. The portrayed lack of communication between father and son indicates that Insel der Schwäne is chiefly concerned with generational problems prevalent in GDR society in the 1980s. In their study on GDR generations, Thomas Ahbe and Rainer Gries demonstrate that in a socialist society, where affiliation with a certain social class, milieu, ethnic group, or gender is of little significance when it comes to individual opportunities for advancement, belonging to a specific generation is crucial (476, 487-88)� In his mid-to-late thirties in 1983, Herrmann belongs to the demographic Ahbe and Gries identify as the “funktionierende Generation” [functioning generation]: citizens born between the mid-1930s and the late 1940s and old enough to have experienced the postwar period� 10 As children they were involved in ensuring their families’ survival by “organizing” food and coal on the black market (520)� As Ahbe and Gries show, the children most affected by the confusion of the war and the postwar period - for example, by bombings, displacement, loss of one or both parents, and settlement in a hostile environment - grew up in East Germany (520). Their psychologically and physically overstrained mothers, often war widows, covered up their grief, heartaches, and desperation; the children, in emulating their mothers and fulfilling the expectations of their social environment, similarly did not display any emotions� Herrmann’s generation thus learned by example to cover up 110 Sonja E� Klocke their feelings and to remain silent - a behavioral pattern they pass on to their children� As Ahbe and Gries emphasize, Was den nun zu Müttern und Vätern gewordenen ehemaligen Kriegskindern in ihrer Kindheit versagt geblieben war - herzliche Aufmerksamkeit und Zärtlichkeit […] -, konnten sie wiederum ihren Kindern kaum weitergeben� Die einstigen Kriegskinder aus der funktionierenden Generation, die unter dem Gebot aufgewachsen waren, ‘nicht unnötig’ Gefühle zu zeigen, “blieben auch als Erwachsene stumm”, stellt der Psychotherapeut Hartmut Radebold fest� (549) [The sincere attentiveness and tenderness […] the former war children now turned mothers and fathers were denied in their childhood they could in turn not pass on to their children. The former war children from the functioning generation who grew up with the imperative not to display ‘unnecessary’ feelings “remained silent also as adults,” the psychotherapist Hartmut Radebold observes�] Herrmann is thus a typical representative of his generation: as a parent, he is unable to articulate his emotional bond to his son adequately; instead he believes that by providing material goods such as a room of his own in the new building should demonstrate his affection sufficiently. As a result, Stefan, a member of the “entgrenzte Generation” [generation beyond borders] (Ahbe and Gries 545) also only indirectly communicates his feelings to others, for example when he takes Hubert under his wing to protect the weak friend from both his parents and Windjacke� Characterizing those who, like Stefan, were born in the 1960s and early 1970s, Ahbe and Gries describe the members of the generation beyond borders as young people whose values and ideas moved beyond the horizon of the GDR (547)� Interested in diversion and consumption (Gensicke 1266-83), they lack the austere pragmatism that distinguished their parents who, as the members also of the first GDR generation, grew up with the sincere feeling that they were responsible for the future of their country� Born between the mid-1930s and the late 1940s, they were raised largely free of fascist contamination, even though they emerged from a collective fascist past� Unlike the Hitler Youth generation, they were considered to consist of the so-called “weiße Jahrgänge” [white age group] devoid of skeletons in the closet and too young to have been brainwashed by Nazi ideology (Ahbe and Gries 504)� Moreover, its members had learned to function as expected by parents and teachers post-1945: they adapted swiftly to the new social and political environment and supported their families even as children� As a result, they were prepared to quickly adjust to yet another political environment in 1949� Pragmatically internalizing the maxims of the socialist state, which corresponded with the experiences during and after the war that had taught them “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 111 to take care of others while fighting obstacles in quotidian life and suppressing sentimentalities, they accepted life as a battle in which one had to fulfill society’s expectations (Ahbe and Gries 522-23). Thus, it emerges as characteristic for somebody like Herrmann to make sacrifices and help out whenever he can - not only when he closes the hydrant, but also when Windjacke and his friends chase Stefan and Herbert further and further up an unfinished building, clearly with the intention of potentially killing them there� Here, too, it is Herrmann who rescues them when he unexpectedly appears on the construction site on a Sunday� A hero of the build-up of the workers’ state, Herrmann uses the weekend to check out the advancements on the building site and decides to return to work the next day even though he still suffers from severe back pain brought about by his work� Just like his predecessor in Pludra’s novel, who literally carries the burden of building socialism as expressed in his words “Mein Kreuz […] Mein Kreuz mal wieder” [My back/ cross/ burden […] My back/ cross/ burden once again] (Pludra 66), Zschoche and Plenzdorf’s Herrmann is portrayed as living a life devoted to advancing socialism. This dedication implies incessantly meeting society’s standards, not openly admitting to feelings of overextension or defeat, and being entirely ruthless against oneself - one’s body as well as one’s soul� Probably inspired by the novel which supports the portrayal of the silently suffering father with a drawing of him standing in agony in front of a window that features the famous Plattenbau in the background (Pludra 67), Zschoche and Plenzdorf employ Herrmann’s back pain as a leitmotif that runs through the entire film. 11 This motif indicates how the pressure never to disappoint those who fight for the development of the new state can be overwhelming. Thus, Herrmann’s body emerges as a place of cultural inscription, or more precisely a “symptomatic body”: a powerful socio-aesthetic construct in East German fictional texts that indicates problems in society and challenges GDR norms regarding sickness� 12 Repeatedly, Insel der Schwäne portrays Herrmann in agony or entirely exhausted on the couch� Still, this socialist hero would never openly admit that his poor health may limit his ability to contribute to the build-up of the new state - a behavioral pattern that initially seems astounding. Yet confessing illness was generally problematic in the GDR, which can be attributed to Lenin’s idea that health presented “ein wertvolles Staatseigentum” [a valuable asset of the state] because it preserved the state’s interest in utilizing each citizen’s productivity for the building of socialism (qtd� in Stein 244)� Individual bodies came to be regarded as an asset of the GDR - and as capable of standing in symbolically for the state and its socialist values� Herrmann’s body - both a possession and a metonymic representation of the socialist state - suffering from severe back 112 Sonja E� Klocke pain that at times immobilizes him thus equals an assault against state property since his body refuses to participate in the build-up of socialism� At the same time, Herrmann’s poor physical constitution asks us to search for the source of the disease. Given his belonging to the first GDR generation, his agony points to the specific historical constellation that led to the development of the functioning generation - the aftermath of Germany’s Nazi past and World War II as well as the demands to build socialism. Thus, this body functions as a seismograph of crises underlying the GDR, predicaments the socialist state inherited from Nazi Germany, but must nevertheless cope with� This father figure literally embodies the exhausting efforts of building socialism, and like the symbolic father GDR, he is prepared to act reasonably and protect his son - and in fact all children and teens - whenever necessary� The film thus builds on the model prevalent in GDR culture from the start: the portrayal of social relations as family relations centered around the figure of the father engaged in shaping the socialist state, even if that causes him to suffer physically. Julia Hell examined this model in detail and explains that already the earliest fictional texts, the “ foundational narratives of antifascism ” as she puts it, create fictional surrogate families (Hell 17; italics in original). They are organized around ideal communists who assume the role of symbolic parental figures whom the sons and daughters in the narrative can admire, and with whom young recipients are solicited to identify (Hell 107)� Under fascist torture, the antifascist heroes suffered indescribable pain, which is inscribed in the body and at the same time leads to purification. Later fictional texts of the GDR such as Insel der Schwäne similarly feature this “body-in-pain” (Hell 33) at their center: here, we no longer see the bodies of the martyrs of socialism who had risked their lives in the struggle against fascism, but of true believers in the socialist state who respect the former fighters who now represent the GDR at its top. These newer bodies-in-pain belong to GDR citizens such as Herrmann: members of the first generation to benefit from social and educational reforms as well as building projects such as Marzahn, all of which contributed to making issues of class increasingly less significant. As a result, citizens such as Herrmann who evidently comes from a less privileged background strongly identify with the socialist idea of building a future that will combine technological with social progress (Wierling 209). They grew up with high expectations and were simultaneously expected to accept responsibility for the socialist future and exercise solidarity� Their children, who came of age in relative prosperity thanks to Honecker’s politics (Ahbe and Gries 549), however, no longer accepted the state’s demands� They increasingly felt that the structural elements prevalent in the GDR’s educational system were adopted from the military, which resulted in a commu- “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 113 nication style that was anachronistic, hierarchical, and ideological (550)� Next to calling the roll, agitation, and distinctions, children and teenagers in the GDR experienced public critiques� In Insel der Schwäne , we become privy to such a situation of public accusation and criticism when Stefan takes on the blame for allegedly having opened the hydrant when confronted with the issue in school� Scenes such as this one reveal the image of the truly benevolent paternal socialist state as a myth� Authoritarian and allegedly caring, this state ensures the social and cultural order that protects citizens even when they fail to realize that they need to be watched over - at the cost of keeping them in a prolonged state of childhood, a state in which they unmistakably lack a voice� 13 This paternal state as well as Herrmann, a member of this state’s first generation, fail to understand the children, and this deficiency emerges as the foundation for tensions� When the father does not keep his promise to build a playground for the kids according to their ideas, needs, and desires, Stefan feels betrayed. Their conflict peaks, 14 and this apparently private relationship turns political: Herrmann, the ideal socialist father and citizen turned liar because of the constraints imposed by the situation on the construction site, cannot serve as a role model any longer� When the son confronts him because the teenager understands the young ones’ need to creatively shape their environment, Stefan emerges as the true protagonist� Trying to overcome what Ahbe and Gries term the “Simulation einer Diskussion” [simulation of a discussion] typical for the communication strategies the functioning generation demanded from the members of the generation beyond borders, Stefan postulates authenticity and honest debate� He wants to mediate between the children’s, the parents’, and society’s needs, and calls for solidarity particularly with the weaker elements of society as well as intergenerational dialogue� Morally superior, the teenager insists on his interpretation of socialist values� He acts like a responsible adult who no longer depends on his father and his protection at the end of the film, when the conflict between him and Windjacke peaks. Only at first sight and to a limited degree, this climax as well as the antagonistic relationship between Stefan and Windjacke echo traditions associated with the American Western� 15 Binaries that pervade Insel der Schwäne - such as good/ evil, strong/ weak, civilization/ wilderness, and position within/ outside society - may have added to that classification. Accordingly, party officials despised the film as bourgeois for its portrayal of social constellations in a broken world that allegedly had been overcome in socialist society� 16 They obviously failed to see that in this contest between a villain associated with the capitalist West - both because of his brutality and his eponymous jacket that could only be bought with Western currency - and a hero equipped with socialist virtues such as honesty, reliability, sincerity, and above all solidarity, the tradition of the 114 Sonja E� Klocke Western reverberates only subtly� Stefan, the advocate for the powerless, does not simply come out victorious in the end. He not only fends off Windjacke when the villain wants to kill him by poking him into an empty elevator shaft, but actually saves Windjacke’s life when the older teenager is in danger of dying in the same elevator shaft after Stefan managed to escape with a swift, clever leap� Physically weaker but intellectually and morally superior, Stefan and his actions rise above the Western: they indicate that there is a possibility for a socialist future in which the good forces will prevail, and where even the villains associated with capitalism can be overcome by integrating them into society� This final success is achieved in the Plattenbau environment of Marzahn, which once again emerges as a complex universe in which tensions and controversies not only between generations, but also among different social groups raise to the surface. However, this is also the space were such fights and arguments can be resolved, and teenagers such as Stefan can assert themselves� It is here, too, that Stefan discovers romantic feelings, particularly for Anja. The Berlin girl used to live in Prenzlauer Berg, and she introduces Stefan not only to her old neighborhood, but to the capital with all its facades� We observe the teenagers exploring the urban landscape of Berlin, enjoying the river Spree with its picturesque bridges, the Berlin state library with its paternoster elevators, and the breathtaking views from Berlin roofs. These vistas include both old buildings and construction sites, and thus point to the possibilities of gaining new perspectives in this city. The more traditional spaces are complemented by settings that point to the most recent socialist achievements such as a car wash and the ice-skating rink located in the SEZ/ Sport- und Erholungszentrum [Sport and Wellness Center] in Friedrichshain, a center for sports and entertainment that when it was opened in March 1981 was unique in the world for its size and versatility� 17 Accompanied by a song that superimposes Anja’s love for Stefan with her love for Berlin, the teenagers’ tour de Berlin leaves no doubt that the capital of the GDR is worth living in: Das ist die Stadt, das ist die Stadt, die alle Lichter hat, in der es alles gibt� Wir sind in dich verliebt, ich bin in dich verliebt. Stadt ist so tief, so tief wie Wald, sie duftet nach Asphalt� Sie nimmt dich mit Gewalt� Wir sind in dich verknallt, ich bin in dich verknallt� Du musst sie nur, sie nur berühren, mich nur berühren, dann spürst du sie vibrieren� Wir sind mit dir geboren, wir sind mit dir verloren, du musst mich nur berühren, du musst mich nur berühren� [This is the city, this is the city that has all the lights, in which everything exists. We are in love with you, I am in love with you. The city is deep, as deep as the woods, sweet with the scent of asphalt. It sweeps you off your feet. We are smitten with you, I am smitten with you. You merely have to touch it, merely have to touch me, then you “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 115 will feel it vibrating� We are born with you, we are lost with you, you merely need to touch me, you merely need to touch me�] In the song as well as the accompanying shots, the symbolically charged landscape of East Berlin with its historical buildings that serve as reminders of the (fascist) past as well as the new ones that point to a bright socialist future is turned into a living, fragrant creature that can be touched, experienced, and loved. In this film sequence, the teenagers view, enjoy, and record their city which is clearly under construction, yet just like the ideal socialist state, it already provides everything one needs. The children’s choir presenting the lyrics underscores this impression as it creates a sense of basic trust typical for babies and small children, a sense of belonging to the paternalistic state that unambiguously links the generation beyond borders with the new socialist space into which they were born� Raised not only in, but literally with this growing city in the making, they are doomed if East Berlin goes down precisely because it is their space� Built on the ruins of World War II and incorporating traditions, it is nevertheless characterized by places like Marzahn and the Sport- und Erholungszentrum in Friedrichshain - precisely the areas that only developed in socialism and that offer the comfort and amenities the youngest GDR generation desires. Yet unlike Heiner Carow’s 1973 film Die Legende von Paul and Paula , which portrayed the symbolic act of blasting an old building to create distance to a historical tradition that otherwise could not be articulated, Insel der Schwäne integrates the old buildings in the city center while pointing to the challenges of providing homes for thousands after World War II by means of Plattenbauten � The film highlights that not only Anja’s previous, now empty and desolate apartment, but also the ones that are still occupied look rather miserable� While clearly not in line with the official propaganda that praised the new housing program, the film’s rather long scene depicting timeworn buildings that are evidently no longer inhabitable emphasizes the need to provide modern apartments for everyone (Schittly 271; Dahlke 463). As Birgit Dahlke emphasizes, the film refrains from taking sides: Plenzdorf entzieht sich jedoch einer Entscheidung zwischen beiden Polen [Altbau oder Plattenbau], er stellt sie aus, läßt den Gegensatz aber stehen. Eine Denunziation des Wohnungsbauprogramms ist genauso wenig in seiner Absicht wie eine Verklärung der Hinterhofarchitektur� (463) [Yet Plenzdorf evades deciding between the two poles [old building or Plattenbau], he exhibits them, but he allows the opposition to remain� He neither intends to denounce the building program nor to romanticize backyard architecture�] 116 Sonja E� Klocke If we look at the film in detail, Insel der Schwäne portrays East Berlin as a heterogeneous city that combines historic buildings and modern ones� Intertwined with a discourse on generations which was significant in the GDR, it is especially Zschoche’s staging of the teenagers’ urban voyage that turns Berlin places into a subject matter of the film. Here, the city emerges as an enjoyable, progressive socialist universe still in the making� In fact, this is a perfect space precisely for those young people who are themselves “still in the making,” teenagers who are struggling to assert themselves in their social environment and to move into adulthood - not free of generational and social conflicts. Thus, Insel der Schwäne builds on films such as Jürgen Böttcher’s Jahrgang ’45 [Born in ’45] (1966/ 1990), which highlights the implications of belonging to a specific generation even in its title. As Anke Pinkert points out when she emphasizes that Jahrgang ’45 was the first DEFA film to replace “the conventional focus on historical transmission and sequential time with a new emphasis on space, place, and movement” (188), the discourse on generations intertwines with the significance space carries already in this 1960s film. Peter Kahane’s Die Architekten [Architects] (1990) can be considered as being on the other end of the trajectory. One of the last DEFA films to employ the motif of city development to engage with its actual topic which Reinhild Steingröver has identified as “the defiant struggles of the last generation which nevertheless was doomed from the start” (208), this film is less concerned with obscuring the deeper, less accessible levels of meaning than its predecessors� 18 If put in such context, Insel der Schwäne emerges as part of a larger DEFA convention to utilize Berlin’s palimpsestic qualities in film. Unlike Kahane’s late DEFA film which “does indeed cast a critical look at the all-important building policies in the GDR and thus symbolically declares the former utopian aspirations for building a better German state bankrupt” (Steingröver 209), Insel der Schwäne still embraces precisely these utopian yearnings for a better, socialist future, and carefully calls for continued efforts to build a socialist state that allows for heterogeneity in its cities as well as among its socialist citizens of all generations� Notes 1 The GDR national anthem starts out with the words “Auferstanden aus Ruinen und der Zukunft zugewandt” and in the last stanza, it calls on its citizens: “Lasst uns pflügen, lasst uns bauen, lernt und schafft wie nie zuvor” [Let us plough, let us build, learn and create like never before]� See Grau and Würz� Unlike mentioned otherwise, all translations in this article are the author’s� 2 See Vogt 673-74; Schenk 29� Vogt lists examples for initially positive critiques in Kino DDR , the film journal Film und Fernsehen , the newspapers “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 117 Neue Zeit , Die Union , and Der Morgen , and the union paper Tribüne � Helmut Ullrich in die Neue Zeit wrote: “‘Insel der Schwäne’ - ein Film über die Jugend und für die Jugend, und dafür ist auch der richtige Stil gefunden. Mit einer Sicht auf die Welt, wie sie eben Jugendliche haben� Mit realistisch genauen Beobachtungen aus ihrer Lebenssphäre und mit phantasievollen Überhöhungen, mit ihren Liedern und ihrer Musik (Peter Gotthardt) und mit einem Grundton der Aufsässigkeit und mit ihrem Blick auf die Erwachsenen� Vielleicht gehört dazu sogar die krasse dramatische Zuspitzung, daß es am Ende, anders als in der literarischen Vorlage, fast zu einem tödlichen Sturz in einen offenen Fahrstuhlschacht kommt, mit Rettung im allerletzten Moment - ein grelles Warn-, aber auch Hoffnungssignal.” [‘Swan Island’ - a film about youth and for youth, and for that purpose, the appropriate style was found� With a view of the world such young people just have� With realistically accurate observations from their sphere of life and with imaginative exaltations, with their songs and their music (Peter Gotthard) and with a fundamental tone of rebelliousness and with their view of the adults� Maybe even the stark dramatic intensification belongs to it. Towards the end, differing from the literary model, we observe a nearly fatal fall into an open elevator shaft, with rescue coming only in the very last moment - a loud warning signal, but also one for hope�] In Neues Deutschland , on the other hand, Horst Knietzsch wrote: “Was für jeden normalen Menschen ein frohstimmendes Ereignis ist, der Umzug in eine neue Wohnung, wird bei dieser, man ist versucht zu sagen, neurotischen Betrachtungsweise zu einem Konflikt hoch- oder besser herunterstilisiert, der für den jungen Helden des Films zu einer Sache von Leben und Tod wird� Positive, sympathische und hilfreiche Gestalten des Buches von Pludra sind in dem Film dem Kahlschlag gegen die typischen sozialistischen Züge unseres Lebens zum Opfer gefallen. So wurde aus der möglichen Identifikationsfigur des Jungen Stefan ein Außenseiter in einer ‘kaputten’, unwirklichen, kinderfeindlichen Welt. Einer Welt, die nicht die unsere ist�” [What would signify a cheerful event for every normal human being, the move into a new apartment, is talked up or rather down into a conflict in this, one is tempted to say, neurotic perspective; a conflict that becomes a matter of life and death for the young protagonist of the film. Positive, likeable and helpful characters of Pludra’s book have fallen prey to eradication of the typical socialist traits of our lives in this film. Thus, the possible figure of identification, the boy Stefan, is turned into an outsider in a ‘kaputt,’ unreal, child-unfriendly world. A world that is not ours�] Similarly, the Junge Welt published letters to the editor under the heading, “Das ist wieder kein DEFA-Film über uns! ” [Again, this is not a DEFA film about us! ] 118 Sonja E� Klocke 3 Similarly interesting, 59 % of all viewers stated that the film was “insgesamt ehrlich” [overall honest], and 55 % found that it portrayed the problems of Stefan and his family “offen und ehrlich” [openly and honestly]. See Wiedemann 9� 4 See especially Schapow who highlights the significance of countryside and city in Insel der Schwäne � Also see Dahlke; Scharnowski; and Vogt� 5 “Around two thirds of the housing stock in large cities [in the Soviet occupied zone in the East of Germany] had been destroyed� Major cities such as Berlin and Dresden had been bombed out of all recognition” (Fulbrook 51)� 6 “Wir hatten nie Probleme durch Überfluß” 264. 7 These numbers were gathered by the Zentralinstitut für Jugendforschung Leipzig , which scientifically collected data about the GDR youth, their life, predominant attitudes, behavior patterns, problems, and desires during the years 1966 to 1990� See ZIJ, F80/ 84, “Jugend der Stadt Dresden” (March 1980): 21; and ZIJ, F84/ 16, “Jugend in der Stadt Leipzig (III)” (Oct. 1984). Qtd. in Fulbrook 303� 8 Gwyneth Cliver’s article, “ Ostalgie Revisited: The Musealization of Halle-Neustadt” offers an interesting take on efforts to musealize Halle-Neustadt in the 2000s by displaying the socialist design - which commonly has a bad reputation in post- Wende Germany - as a “desired object of observation and encouraging new creative activity” (615)� 9 As a result of the GDR’s attitude towards this generation, about three quarters of all teenagers interviewed in a survey conducted in 1989 declared that they felt that they were not needed for developing the GDR, and that they had no influence to shape their lives in the GDR. (Ahbe and Gries 553) 10 Apart from the “funktionierende Generation” (518-31), Ahbe and Gries identify the “Generation der mißtrauischen Patriarchen” [generation of the suspicious patriarchs] (492-502); the “Aufbau-Generation” [build-up generation] (502-18); the “integrierte Generation” [integrated generation] (531- 45); the “entgrenzte Generation” [generation beyond borders] (545-56); and the “Wende-Kinder” [children of the turning point] (556-69)� 11 In Pludra’s novel, the indication that the father’s back pain - through the word choice of “Kreuz” which indicates simultaneously back pain, a burden, and literally carrying a cross - results from his efforts of building socialism is even more explicit than in the film: “Kann aber auch sein, ich hab da oben eine Platte falsch erwischt. Man muß sie richtig zu fassen kriegen, und der Kran muß genau sein� Wenn das nicht hinhaut, verdrehst du dir das Kreuz� Man ist ja auch nicht mehr der Jüngste�” [Could be that I caught one of the slabs the wrong way up there. One has to get hold of them the right way, “Risen from Ruins”: Herrmann Zschoche’s Insel der Schwäne 119 and the crane must be precise� If that does not work well, you twist the back� And one isn’t a spring chicken any more either�] (Pludra 68) 12 For a detailed description of the symptomatic body see Klocke 9-11, 20-23� 13 Early examples analyzing this situation after the end of the GDR include Henrich; Maaz� 14 See Schapow 7� Interesting enough, Stefan’s mother who is largely absent and his female class teacher who is sympathetic to Stefan but plays a rather minor role receive much higher approval rates by the audience than the father: 76 % of all viewers find Stefan’s teacher personable or very personable, and 70 % agree with that when it comes to Stefan’s mother. On the other hand, only 28 % find Stefan’s father likable or very likable, and among the thirteento fourteen-year-old viewers, the figure is as low as 15 %. See Wiedemann 13-14� 15 In Ulrich Plenzdorf’s words, “Wenn man so will, ist der ganze Film eigentlich nach einem Western-Modell geschrieben.” [If you want, the entire film is actually written according to the model of the Western.] (“Das kommt davon”)� For a scene-by-scene analysis of Insel der Schwäne as a Western see Albers. For criticism to Albers’ approach of reading the film as a Western, particularly because it is not applicable for the figure of Herrmann, see Erika Richter’s and Edith Gaida’s contributions to “Diskussion: Genrewissen kontra Rezeptionserfahrung�” 16 Presseauswertung zum Film ‘Insel der Schwäne’, Hauptverwaltung Film, Abt. Wissenschaft und Information, 12. Mai 1983, HV-Unterlage 74 A+B, Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin� 17 Planned by Swedish architects and built by a special construction team under the direction of Erhard Gißke, the Sport- und Erholungszentrum in Berlin-Friedrichshain was opened on March 20, 1981� Extremely modern and inviting, the building welcomed about 22,000 visitors a day� For many East Berliners, the SEZ was as important as the Palace of the Republic� 18 It is crucial to note that Kahane, like many of his colleagues, addressed the “precise and direct dissection of generational struggle […] in all his previous films,” too, as Steingröver demonstrates in her analysis (209). Works Cited Ahbe, Thomas, and Rainer Gries. “Gesellschaftsgeschichte als Generationengeschichte: Theoretische und methodologische Überlegungen zum Beispiel DDR.” Die DDR aus generationengeschichtlicher Perspektive: Eine Inventur . Ed. 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